BPI Test Exam Questions and Answers
100% Solved | Graded A+
Home performance - ✔✔is the systematic approach to improving the
comfort, health, safety, energy efficiency, and durability of a home.
The Big 3: - ✔✔Heat, Air and Moisture
Difference in temperature and humidity between areas inside the house,
and between the inside and the outside of the house, are exerting some
sort of subtle influence on the conditions in the home.
Home Performance also includes: - ✔✔Occupant health and safety
Indoor air quality and occupant comfort
Durability of materials
Building Science - ✔✔taken from physics chemistry and thermodynamics
Whole-building home performance contractors - ✔✔those professionals
whose job is to improve home performance - need to understand building
science.
House-as-a-system: - ✔✔holistic view: the whole-house approach and it's
another way to define building science
1
©JOSHCLAY 2024/2025. YEAR PUBLISHED 2024.
,Four general categories of building science: - ✔✔Building
Mechanicals
Environment
Occupants
Building Envelope: - ✔✔Foundation
Walls
Roof
Windows
Doors
Mechanicals: - ✔✔Heating and cooling and ventilation
Electrical Systems Lighting and appliances
Plumbing Systems
Environment: - ✔✔in this context, refers to managing the indoor
environment as the exterior environment is changing (keeping the interior
temperature and relative humidity within acceptable levels, and ensuring
indoor air quality with an adequate amount of fresh air and little to no
pollutant concentrations
Importance of Occupants at a component of buildings - ✔✔Home
performance primarily deals with existing, occupied homes. Occupants are
2
©JOSHCLAY 2024/2025. YEAR PUBLISHED 2024.
,the beginning and the end of the system: they may do things in a house
that affect the other components, and they are certainly on the receiving
end when things like comfort and indoor air quality are affected
Interacting relationship - ✔✔an action taken on one component causes
reactions or changes in other components, or worsens certain pre-exiting
conditions (and increases their likelihood of producing negative effects
Ice dams - ✔✔occurs when warm air melts snow on the roof directly above,
but does not melt snow on the overhangs. Water from the melted snow
flows down into the gutters, where it freezes. This prevents any further
melting snow from draining properly. Ice dams can damage the roof and
everything beneath it.
Mechanical ventilation (bathroom fan) - ✔✔could cause air pressure
differences between the inside and outside of the home. If air leakage is
present, this could cause the house to leak air at a faster rate, which, in
turn, would create the need for the thermostat to be adjusted more often
Cathedral ceiling - ✔✔Has the same pitch as a roof
vaulted ceiling - ✔✔does not have the same pitch as a the roof; can consist
of one or two straight slopes, or it can be arched. in the case of straight
3
©JOSHCLAY 2024/2025. YEAR PUBLISHED 2024.
, slopes, one wall of the room is taller than the opposite wall, and the ceiling
slopes downward toward the shorter wall.
Drawbacks to noon-standard types of ceilings - ✔✔hard to clean, pain, and
change light bulbs
cost more to heat and cool
expensive to install
Rafter - ✔✔a sloped framing member that supports the roof
Joist - ✔✔horizontal framing member that supports a ceiling or floor
Stud - ✔✔a vertical framing member that supports an interior or exterior
wall
Bay - ✔✔the space between and the size of the wood influence the cavity
or bay (indicates the amount of insulation)
Thermodynamics Definition - ✔✔an are of science that looks at the
relationship between heat and other kinds of energy
1st Law of Thermodynamics - ✔✔energy moves from place to place;
energy changes form one form to another; energy cannot be created or
destroyed
Energy moves around and changes form.
4
©JOSHCLAY 2024/2025. YEAR PUBLISHED 2024.
100% Solved | Graded A+
Home performance - ✔✔is the systematic approach to improving the
comfort, health, safety, energy efficiency, and durability of a home.
The Big 3: - ✔✔Heat, Air and Moisture
Difference in temperature and humidity between areas inside the house,
and between the inside and the outside of the house, are exerting some
sort of subtle influence on the conditions in the home.
Home Performance also includes: - ✔✔Occupant health and safety
Indoor air quality and occupant comfort
Durability of materials
Building Science - ✔✔taken from physics chemistry and thermodynamics
Whole-building home performance contractors - ✔✔those professionals
whose job is to improve home performance - need to understand building
science.
House-as-a-system: - ✔✔holistic view: the whole-house approach and it's
another way to define building science
1
©JOSHCLAY 2024/2025. YEAR PUBLISHED 2024.
,Four general categories of building science: - ✔✔Building
Mechanicals
Environment
Occupants
Building Envelope: - ✔✔Foundation
Walls
Roof
Windows
Doors
Mechanicals: - ✔✔Heating and cooling and ventilation
Electrical Systems Lighting and appliances
Plumbing Systems
Environment: - ✔✔in this context, refers to managing the indoor
environment as the exterior environment is changing (keeping the interior
temperature and relative humidity within acceptable levels, and ensuring
indoor air quality with an adequate amount of fresh air and little to no
pollutant concentrations
Importance of Occupants at a component of buildings - ✔✔Home
performance primarily deals with existing, occupied homes. Occupants are
2
©JOSHCLAY 2024/2025. YEAR PUBLISHED 2024.
,the beginning and the end of the system: they may do things in a house
that affect the other components, and they are certainly on the receiving
end when things like comfort and indoor air quality are affected
Interacting relationship - ✔✔an action taken on one component causes
reactions or changes in other components, or worsens certain pre-exiting
conditions (and increases their likelihood of producing negative effects
Ice dams - ✔✔occurs when warm air melts snow on the roof directly above,
but does not melt snow on the overhangs. Water from the melted snow
flows down into the gutters, where it freezes. This prevents any further
melting snow from draining properly. Ice dams can damage the roof and
everything beneath it.
Mechanical ventilation (bathroom fan) - ✔✔could cause air pressure
differences between the inside and outside of the home. If air leakage is
present, this could cause the house to leak air at a faster rate, which, in
turn, would create the need for the thermostat to be adjusted more often
Cathedral ceiling - ✔✔Has the same pitch as a roof
vaulted ceiling - ✔✔does not have the same pitch as a the roof; can consist
of one or two straight slopes, or it can be arched. in the case of straight
3
©JOSHCLAY 2024/2025. YEAR PUBLISHED 2024.
, slopes, one wall of the room is taller than the opposite wall, and the ceiling
slopes downward toward the shorter wall.
Drawbacks to noon-standard types of ceilings - ✔✔hard to clean, pain, and
change light bulbs
cost more to heat and cool
expensive to install
Rafter - ✔✔a sloped framing member that supports the roof
Joist - ✔✔horizontal framing member that supports a ceiling or floor
Stud - ✔✔a vertical framing member that supports an interior or exterior
wall
Bay - ✔✔the space between and the size of the wood influence the cavity
or bay (indicates the amount of insulation)
Thermodynamics Definition - ✔✔an are of science that looks at the
relationship between heat and other kinds of energy
1st Law of Thermodynamics - ✔✔energy moves from place to place;
energy changes form one form to another; energy cannot be created or
destroyed
Energy moves around and changes form.
4
©JOSHCLAY 2024/2025. YEAR PUBLISHED 2024.
